The biggest problem with “Based on a True Story” is the part where the true story wasn’t quite magical enough to fill two full hours of screen time. The fallout is a film with worthy characters, but far too little plot. Hence, you get scenes like a full half hour wasted on the French Riviera. I mean, when you go to a film about the racially charged landscape of the US military post WWII, are you hoping to see flyboys ogle Elizabeth Taylor? Sure, we learn that our protagonist, Ensign Jesse Brown (Jonathan Majors), can speak French, but let me ask this: do we, or should we care any less for the man if we knew he couldn’t?
It takes about fifteen minutes for Lieutenant Tom Hudner (Glen Powell, or Pinocchio as a real boy) to recognize a hazing. Ensign Brown plays a game of “follow-the-leader” and immediately takes to noob to places not usually on US Navy flight paths. It sounds more dangerous than it actually is – lemme rephrase cuz I have no idea how dangerous this stuff is – it sounds more daring than the film was willing to dare. I imagined spooking cattle and barnstorming; this was really just saying, “hi” to yachtsmen and a nod to Top Gun. Ok, real-life maverick; you made your point. Sort of.
I do not know if Ensign Brown was the only black pilot in the US Navy in 1950, but the film sure makes it feel like he is. He has a wife and child at home; hence, he has a lot to lose if he doesn’t play the game exactly right. Devotion hints at this without delving deeply. Several times in the film, we can tell Ensign Brown is playing more nicely than he wants to (in the face of blatant racism), but he saves his temper and harsh words for would-be allies, like Lt. Hudner. There are only two real characters in this film – Brown and Hudner and Brown comes off as restrained while Hudner comes off as a wooden doll. In a way, that makes this film more true-to-life than, say, Top Gun – real Navy pilots aren’t actors; they’re people who generally cannot afford to give in to emotion. So congrats on a more real feel … but it takes away from my enjoyment as a viewer.
While most of the film takes place in the arena of training, historians know that the Korean War is coming up fast. We know that something is gonna go down eventually. The big question is whether the best pilots in the Navy 
will act as teammates or go it solo. And while the film did hint about the conflict to come, it takes FOREVER to get there. Elizabeth Taylor? Cannes? Sure, why not. Let the film take a break in-between social justice and honor on the field of duty. Sure, we could have told this tale in 45 minutes, but war films are rarely under two hours; why skimp? AmIright?
Devotion is a serviceable film about service. In the future, I expect it to show up in laundry lists of descriptive relevant articles, having a place among others in categories like “war films with race issues” and “films with decent flight cinematography” and “Korean War films” and “films in which Elizabeth Taylor shows up for no reason.” Except for the last category, however, I wouldn’t expect Devotion to appear as anything more than part of a bulleted list. The film isn’t bad, it is just strangely unmoving given the subject matter – I attribute such to the direction which invites guests politely, the screenwriting which makes points without crystal clarity, and the acting which is, sadly, a but wooden. As said above, it comes off as realistic, but not endearing – and in a film about race relations and life-or-death situations, you really want endearing and intimate instead of observational.
In the 50s, with racists all smarmy
And the military not big on charm-y
Seemed Korea was doomed
Yet a positive bloomed
At least they didn’t have to match the BTS Army
Rated PG-13, 139 Minutes
Director: J.D. Dillard
Writer: Jake Crane, Jonathan Stewart
Genre: Don’t be “White Saviorism” … Don’t be “White Saviorism”
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: SJWs in training (the real ones might find a bit of this problematic)
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Racists
